Friday 1 March
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
Plato
THIS MORNING IN LONDON
FTSE 100
6,317.31
-43.50 -0.68%
FTSE 250
13,681.79
-22.23 --0.16%
FTSE 350
3,396.55
-20.85 -0.61%
FTSE All Share
3,329.29
-20.10 -0.60%
AIM 100
3,285.47
-8.47 -0.26%
AIM All Share
738.95
-2.11 -0.28%
13:50 pm
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Hello Share Fans,
The media is not supposed to be biased. Not the broadcasters, anyway. And usually the news output is pretty well balanced. But not in the matter of the markets.
When Italy got into another fine mess this week by failing to vote in a government with an austerity agenda, the media said that turmoil was expected in the markets. Share values were expected to plunge as the Euro faced yet another big crisis.
CLICK HERE for the full article
High profile M&A activity in the U.S. last week livened up a worried market beset with Eurozone slowdown fears, debt drama and a looming US budget battle. In particular, Heinz shares shot up last Thursday after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G’s takeover of the global ketchup maker for $28billion. Peers Kellogg, Kraft Foods and General Mills shares rose in reaction to the news on that day.
So do the deluge of recent deals signal the long awaited return of M&A after three years of relatively low deal activity?
CLICK HERE for the full article
REPORT OF THE DAY
WANdisco - Launch of Big Data Product
by Growth Equities & Company Research
WANdisco has officially entered the lucrative Big Data Market with the launch of its flagship Big Data product – which is c.12 months ahead of schedule.
• In addition, in a move to accelerate the adoption of Big Data products, WANdisco has recently launched a non-stop alliance partner program.
• We see the launch of its Big Data product as a milestone in terms of the development of its product suite but also in its strategy of helping enterprises eliminate critical productivity risks through the deployment of Hadoop.
• We expect a Q2 update will provide a clearer picture regarding customer adoption numbers, and have therefore kept our forecasts unchanged.
• However, given the encouraging progress made so far and the positive response from vendors, we believe WANdisco is capable of commanding a larger share of the total market, and have therefore adjusted our DCF model.
• Accordingly, our stance remains speculative buy, but with an increased target price of 1,091p (previously 823p).
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT
THIS MORNING IN LONDON
Risk appetite declines as US budget cuts loom
After an initial stint in positive territory, UK stock markets swung sharply into the red by Friday lunchtime as concerns about budget cuts in the US take their toll on risk appetite.
Sequestration is continuing to dominate headlines this morning as the deadline for across-the-board automatic budget cuts worth $85bn passes today. The International Monetary Fund has warned that it would be forced to trim is economic growth estimates if the cuts went ahead.
While the cuts would be gradual, it is thought that they will shave 0.5 percentage points off US gross domestic product growth this year.
Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari said: "I don’t think the sequestration will have a longer term impact on the markets though, compared to the potential impact of the fiscal cliff at the end of last year, this is only small.
"I think what we’re seeing today is simply a case of people firstly demonstrating their lack of belief that the US government can get the job done, but also with it being the end of the week, people are closing their positions and locking in profits from the past couple of days."
Worse-than-expected manufacturing figures from China and the UK were also weighing on sentiment today, meaning that the mining sector was firmly out of favour.
The official Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell from 50.4 to 50.1 in February. While this marked the fifth straight month of expansion (shown by figures above the mid-point of 50), analysts were expecting a slight rise to 50.5.
HSBC's own PMI survey for Chinese manufacturing also fell from 52.3 to 50.4 in February, missing the 50.6 estimate.
Meanwhile, the Markit/CIPS manufacturing PMI in the UK dropped from a revised 50.5 to 47.9 this month, missing the 51 estimate.
CLICK HERE FOR THE DAY'S FASTEST MOVING STOCKS
FTSE 100: Miners tank after Chinese data; Lloyds disappoints
Mining stocks were providing a drag on the Footsie today in the wake of the disappointing economic figures from China. Kazakhmys, EVRAZ, Xstrata, Glencore, ENRC and Polymetal were registering steep losses.
Kazkahmys, which yesterday announced that it would be slashing its dividend to reflect falling profits in 2012, was a heavy faller after Bank of America, JPMorgan and Exane BNP Paribas all cut their target prices for the stock.
Meanwhile, Glencore and Xstrata were also hit after saying that they would likely push back their merger deadline as they continue to await regulatory approval in China.
UK banking group Lloyds sank this morning after reporting that while underlying profits soared in 2012, it was forced to take further provisions for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) redress in the fourth quarter.
Advertising giant WPP topped market expectations with its results for 2012 but labelled its performance as "ugly" due to the varying levels of growth throughout the year. Shares edged slightly higher.
Insurance group Old Mutual was in demand after posting an 18% increase in annual profits in 2012, driven by a strong performance in Africa.
Meanwhile, property developer Hammerson gained after hailing 2012 as a "transformational year" which saw 2.1% growth in like-for-like net rental income.
After reporting record 2012 sales yesterday, outsourcing group Capita was a high riser after saying that has acquired debt recovery specialists iQor Holdings UK and subsidiaries (iQor UK) for an enterprise value of £42m.
FTSE 250: Howden Joinery and National Express jump in morning trade
High Street betting shop William Hill jumped after announcing that it is buying out its partner Playtech in the William Hill Online venture for £424m, funded by a fully underwritten rights issue of £375m. The company also met profit forecasts with 22% bottom-line growth in 2012.
Fund manager Man Group was a heavy faller after UBS downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral', saying it is "waiting for more visibility" on a number of key stock drivers.
CLICK HERE FOR THE DAY'S FASTEST MOVING STOCKS
WHAT THE BROKERS SAY
Shore Capital has a "hold" stance on Capita, HSBC and Hays and a "buy" stance on Shire, Standard Chartered, Lancashire and William Hill. N+1 Singer goes for "buy" on RPS Group with a 320p target price.
Cannacord Genuity rates Playtech as a "buy" in a note entitled "Hitting the Jackpot", with a 604p target price.
Click here for the rest of the broker recommendations
THE LATEST ON THE CRAZY BOARD
The top 5 hot company threads on the Bulletin Board:
GENEL ENERGY(GENL)-Ex Aquisition vehicle VALLARES.
XCHANGING PLC(XCH)-International BPO provider.
Gulfsands Petroleum - New to AIM in March
SIERRA RUTILE LIMITED(SRX)-Formerly Titanium Res.
BERENDSEN (BRSN)"Dull & Steady" can be attractive?
Click here to discuss shares with other ShareCrazy members
Regards,
ShareCrazy
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